2 with gang ties sought in Colo. prison boss death

By CATHERINE TSAI - Associated Press

DENVER (AP) — Two more men connected to a violent white supremacist gang were being sought in connection with the slaying of Colorado's prisons chief Thursday, the first official word other gang members might be involved.

The search comes about two weeks after prison gang member Evan Ebel was killed in a shootout with Texas deputies. He's a suspect in the killing of Department of Corrections chief Tom Clements on March 19 and of pizza deliveryman Nathan Leon two days earlier.

While it's not clear whether the gang, the 211 Crew, is linked to the killings, a warning bulletin issued late Wednesday by the El Paso County Sheriff's Department was the first official indication there might be a tie.

James Lohr, 47, and Thomas Guolee, 31, aren't being called suspects in Clements' killing, but are considered persons of interest. Their names surfaced during the investigation, El Paso County sheriff's Lt. Jeff Kramer said. He wouldn't elaborate.

Authorities say the two Colorado Springs men are members of the 211 gang and have been associated with Ebel in the past.

Both are wanted on warrants unrelated to Clements' death, and authorities believe they are armed and dangerous.

Ebel is the only suspect that investigators have named in Clements' killing, but they haven't given a motive. They have said they're looking into his connection to the gang he joined while in prison, and whether that was connected to the attack.

"Investigators are looking at a lot of different possibilities. We are not stepping out and saying it's a hit or it's not a hit. We're looking at all possible motives," Kramer said Wednesday.

Investigators have said the gun Ebel used in the Texas shootout was also used to kill Clements when the prisons chief answered the front door of his Monument home.

Sheriff's investigators said they don't know the whereabouts of Lohr and Guolee or if they are together, but it's possible one or both of them could be headed to Nevada or Texas, Kramer said.

The 211 gang is one of the most vicious white supremacist groups operating in U.S. prisons, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist groups. It was founded in 1995 to protect white prisoners from attacks and operates only in Colorado, according to the center.

Guolee is a parolee who served time for intimidating a witness and giving a pawnbroker false information, among other charges, court records show. State corrections records show he served time for offenses in El Paso County before being paroled in southeastern Colorado.

His father, Phil Guolee of Wisconsin told The Denver Post that his son had been in prison since he was 18, is bipolar and wasn't able to have his medication in prison.

"He couldn't get any help, he couldn't get a good lawyer, couldn't get anything for him in Colorado," he said.

Lohr was being sought on warrants out of Las Animas County for a bail violation and a violation of a protection order, according to court records.

He was arrested in Trinidad on Dec. 1, 2012, while hanging out with some friends at a tattoo shop because police said he was drinking in violation of the protection order. The name of the person being protected by the order was redacted from the documents. The court issued a warrant for his arrest after her failed to appear in that case on Feb. 20.

Ebel joined the 211 Crew after he entered prison in 2005 for a string of assault and menacing charges that combined for an eight-year sentence. He was supposed to spend an extra four years in prison for punching a prison officer in the face in 2006, but a clerical error led that sentence to be recorded as one to be served simultaneously with his previous sentences.

He was released on parole Jan. 28.

Records show that the vendor operating the electronic monitoring bracelet that Ebel wore noted a "tamper alert" March 14. Corrections officials left a message for Ebel telling him to report in two days and have the bracelet repaired, records show.

The next day, for the first time since his release, Ebel did not call in for his daily phone check-in.

On March 16, he missed his appointment to repair the bracelet. Only on the following day do the records show that a note was made in the corrections system that he failed to show up.

By then, Leon, a father of three, was shot and killed after answering a call for a pizza at a Denver truck stop.

On March 18, parole officers contacted Ebel's father, who said he was concerned his son had fled and gave them permission to search Ebel's apartment. The next afternoon, two parole officers concluded he had fled.

Hours later, Clements answered his doorbell and was fatally shot.

The next morning, still unaware of a connection with the most recent slaying, the state issued a warrant for Ebel's arrest on parole violations.

A sheriff's deputy in rural Texas pulled Ebel over March 21, but he fled. Ebel was killed in the shootout that followed.

Clements, born in St. Louis, worked for 31 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections, both in prison and as a parole officer, before he joined the Colorado Department of Corrections in 2011.